Tag: open government

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Local organizations, municipal bodies and citizens groups across Western North Carolina have partnered to empower community members to play a direct hand in the management and accessibility of public records, and help create a virtual landscape where responsibility for the dissemination of these records is shared by everyone.

Concerns about substandard rental housing in Asheville are nothing new. But assessing the extent of the problem has proved to be a slippery slope: Although tenant complaints are a matter of public record, there's no easy way to access or search them.

Lawyers representing a coalition of local media (including Xpress) have filed an affidavit to bolster the case for the release of an audit of the Asheville Police Department evidence room. The lawsuit goes before a judge Sept. 4.

In this interview with Xpress Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy talks about the state of the Asheville Police Department evidence room situation, oversight issues, and if the city will be able to hire the number of staff recommended to keep the same problems from re-emerging. Photo by Max Cooper.

Xpress and four other local media outlets are suing District Attorney Ron Moore and the city of Asheville, seeking to make public the audit of guns, drugs, and money missing from the Asheville Police Department evidence room.

More than two months ago, Xpressrequested a copy of the audit of the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room from District Attorney Ron Moore. We have received no reply. According to attorneys from the North Carolina Press Association, the audit should be public record, and Moore’s behavior violates the state’s open records law.

Xpress has obtained 270 emails from city of Asheville staff concerning Occupy Asheville. The emails reveal law enforcement considering their approach to (and surveillance of) the protests as well as city staff and Occupy representatives debating freedom of assembly, among other things. These emails are available to the public in a searchable database.photo by Bill Rhodes